Homecoming Live

The cynic might have viewed this musical finale to the Scottish Government’s grand attempt to reel back a few ex-pat Kiwis and Canucks in terms of all the iconic and available Scots bands who weren’t playing. Where were Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas, Mogwai, Sons & Daughters, James Yorkston, Malcolm Middleton, Aidan Moffat or anyone else on Chemikal Underground? Even Travis, for god’s sake? In which case, the cynic might have wasted their time and missed out on all the good stuff.

The Clyde Auditorium sported a bill for the older fan, and there was good (Deacon Blue’s reliably nostalgic set) and grim (Hue & Cry’s dated soul) to be found therein. The main stage in the SECC, meanwhile, was evidently tailored to the more alternative music fan, despite the optimistic over-promotion of shiny young things Alex Gardner and Pearl and the Puppets. Taking to a stage deserving of their talents if not their usual audiences, however, the iconic Vaselines and Teenage Fanclub, a surprisingly breakneck Idlewild and the typically modest King Creosote all shone. Headliners The View, meanwhile, provided the inspiration for those most Scottish of gig-goers – the pint-chuckers and the flag-wavers.